The impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on physical domestic violence: Evidence from a list randomization experiment

Abstract

We quantify the increase in physical domestic violence (family or intimate partner violence) experienced by young people aged 18-26 during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns in Peru. To do this we use an indirect methodology, the double list randomization experiment. The list experiment was embedded in a telephone survey to participants of the Young Lives study, a long-standing cohort survey. We find that 8.3% of the sample experienced an increase in physical violence within their households during the lockdown period. Those who had already reported experiencing domestic violence in the last round of (in-person) data collection in 2016 are more likely to have experienced increased physical violence during the COVID-19 lockdown, with 23.6% reporting an increase during this time. The reported increase in violence does not differ significantly by gender. List experiments, if carefully conducted, may be a relatively cheap and feasible way to elicit information about sensitive issues during a phone survey.

Keywords: COVID-19; Domestic violence; List experiment; Peru.

Fig. 1

Evolution of COVID-19 positive cases and length of lockdowns in Peru Note: The number of cases is a daily moving average of the last 5 days. The blue dotted line marks the end of the national lockdown, whereas the orange dotted line the end of the local lockdowns. The red solid lines represent the period during which the Young Lives list experiment took place. Source: Government of Peru.

Fig. 2

The predicted prevalence of increased violence by sub-groups Notes: Predictions for each group are calculated at the sample mean of all other covariates. Vertical bars indicate a 95% confidence interval around predictions.